HOW YOU CAN HELP  (Historic ): Access is via a sign-posted cross-slab is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Any farm track leading off the A94 – works on the monument (including ivy-clearance) require the road. Set behind glass within the ruins of Eassie Church prior written consent of the Scottish Ministers, administered this is a fi ne cross-slab. On one face is a cross fl anked by through Historic Scotland. If you have any concerns about the a hunting scene. On the other face is a combination of stone please contact any of the following: symbols with fi gurative scenes. Historic Scotland: 0131 6688600 Perth Museum & Art Gallery: 01738 632488 Titles for further reading include: Perth & Heritage Trust: 01738 477081 Surviving in Symbols A Visit to the Pictish Nation, Martin Carver, (Historic Scotland), 1999. FINDING OUT MORE , and Scots, Sally Foster, & Edinburgh We hope you have enjoyed your visit to Kettins. If you would like (Batsford/Historic Scotland), 2004 (2nd edition). to fi nd out more about the Picts there are several other places Field Guide to the Pictish Symbol Stones, Alistair Mack, to visit and a number of useful books to read. Balgavies (Pinkfoot Press), 1997. PLACES TO VISIT The Art of the Picts and Metalwork in Early There are three local museums with collections of Pictish Medieval Scotland, George and Isabel Henderson, sculpture: London (Thames and Hudson), 2004.  Museum (Historic Scotland). An outstanding Able Minds and Practised Hands Scotland Early collection of from Meigle. Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century Sally Foster Beside the Parish Church in Meigle village. and Morag Cross, Leeds (Society for Medieval Open: seasonal. Admission Charge. Archaeology), 2005 Tel: 0131 668860  Perth Museum & Art Gallery (Perth & Kinross Council): Stones from Gellyburn, , , Scone and Pittensorn on display. HOW 78 George Street, Perth, PH1 5LB TO GET Open: Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm THERE Admission: free. Tel: 01738 632488.  The , Forfar (Angus Council): Displays a fi ne collection of sculptures, notably from . West High Street, Forfar. Open: Monday –Saturday, 10am -5pm Admission: Free. Tel: 01307 464123/467017. The nearest sculptures to Kettins, not in museums and available to view all year are:  Keilor: On a minor road between Kettins and Newtyle, map ref: NO 273 397. A symbol stone on top of a burial mound with fi ne views. The symbols are worn but still The conservation and interpretation of the cross-slab was a partnership project clear: a wolf above a double-disc and z-rod and below between Perth & Kinross Council, Historic that a mirror and comb. Scotland and Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust. Published: December 2005 Printed by Farquhar & Son Ltd, Perth The at Kettins and its economic re-use of a no longer valued piece of sculpture, One of the largest examples of a group of stone monuments ideally suited for use as a footbridge. It is also possible that, called cross-slabs, a Pictish form of Insular (British and A being carved with a cross, it would have been seen as warding- Irish) sculpture. Cross-slabs are rectangular slabs of monsters off evil from the crossing and protecting those who used the stone carved on one or both faces with a Christian cross. tail bridge. The cross can take various forms and is usually accompanied by a variety of abstract and fi gurative designs – sometimes Kettins Church including Pictish symbols. They tell us about people in the past Cross The cross-slab suggests that there may have been a Christian engaged with . Cross-slabs date broadly to the 7th- arms church in Kettins for well over 1,000 years. The earliest 10th centuries AD. The example from Kettins probably dates to documentary reference to a church building shows that Bishop th th Part of David of St Andrews dedicated a church in Kettins to St Bride the 8 or 9 century. the cross ring (or Bridget) in 1249. There are later references to the “abthen” of Description Kettins, a term usually suggesting a monastery. There was no The cross-slab stands beside the northern boundary wall Animal monastery in Kettins in the later Middle Ages but it may be an of Kettins church-yard, facing the north side of the parish with echo of a pre 12th century church in Kettins. That a parish church church. The slab is Old Red Sandstone, possibly quarried Cross- curled stood here in the 13th century is indicated by the fragments of in Kettins parish, certainly in Strathmore. The 2.8m shaft tail architectural stonework described below. The present church high stone is a tapering rectangular slab fi xed into a 19th was built in 1768 and enlarged in 1878. century base and supported by 19th/20th century iron Panel of interlace Architectural Fragments fi ttings. Decoration survives only on the front face. The Winged beast (griffi n?) holding a On the gravel area around the cross-slab are several accompanying drawing describes what survives of that Panel bird in its mouth pieces of medieval church fabric. These moulded decoration. of key pattern 2 animal- stones probably come from the medieval parish History headed fi gures church and comprise (from left to right): facing a central The presence of the cross-slab in Kettins is evidence for the winged fi gure A bell-shaped capital of semi-circular form (perhaps earliest Christian community in the area. The size of the slab (possibly an originally forming one half of a circular capital), and its decoration suggest a possible link with the important angel) probably of early 13th-century date. monastic community at near-by Meigle. The cross- A semi-circular arcade base of ‘water-holding’ form, slab could have been a focus for Christian teaching and Panel of 2 animals interlace looking back at with a deep hollow between two rolls, (perhaps worship and / or it may have marked Kettins out in the each other and originally forming one half of a circular base) landscape as a territorial possession. Other possibilities are biting the others probably of early 13th-century date; this base is likely that it may have marked the grave of an important cleric or tail to have been from a similar arcade pier as the cap landowner. Undecorated listed above. The cross-slab has stood in its present location for around 150 surface probably The springing stone from the junction of two years. It was found around 1865, in use as a footbridge over the covered by the original base arcade arches, possibly forming the lowest element Kettins Burn, which runs beside the Church. Because of this of the chamfered outer order of those arches; along the back of the slab is now very worn, giving it a furrowed with the cap and base listed above. These stones appearance, with no designs visible. The front of the cross- suggest that the church from which they came had at least one slab is also very worn, with much of its detail no longer visible. aisle, separated from the main body of the church by an arcade The loss will have been hastened by the damp environment carried on one or more cylindrical piers. of the Kettins Burn. Whilst the poor condition of the slab is A possibly 14th or 15th century stone from a window framework regrettable, its use as a footbridge is also a part of its history. It (or ‘reveal’) with broad chamfers on each side of the half- tells us interesting things about the later life of the cross-slab mullion into which the glass was set. Tenon for base